I’ve long heard of the black truffle xiao long bao (XLB) from the famed Din Tai Feng, but never had a proper chance to try it. So when I had a guest over recently and dined at Din Tai Feng, I decided to order the black truffle xiao long bao.
At ¥88 for 5, it is possibly one of the most expensive XLBs around. The regular pork option was ¥48 i believe, and came in baskets of 10. Something similar would cost ¥15 in your mum and pop shop.
Having said that, I was astounded at the amount of truffles they place in every dumpling. There were like 2 thick slices of black truffles and the resultant flavor was quite mind blowing. If you are flavor-shy, you might find the taste of this a little strong. If you are a truffle-lover, you will have a foodgasm upon biting into one of these. If you have always wondered how black truffles taste like, you will get the full answer here. There is no subtlety in the flavor, as one would usually find in say a black truffle risotto, or a truffle-infused something. Quite an experience, but not really something I would repeat often.
The regular XLB was very good, as with all of their XLBs, the skin is very thin but resilient to tearing. You could pick one up safely with chopsticks and nibble off a hole without the dumpling tearing at any points. Every dumpling is well packed with soup and a savoury but light filling. Din Tai Feng are, really worth their reputation. Are they worth the price? Definitely, for the quality and consistency. Can you find something cheaper for similar value? Yes.
Can you find black truffle xiao long bao with such quality and consistency elsewhere? Maybe, but definitely rare. I would recommend you to try it out at least once.
Total bill: ¥88 for Black Truffle XLB, ¥48 for regular pork XLB.